Collection is comprised of plantation records, personal correspondence, and business papers of William A. Powell, Hubbard S. Bosley, and families. Included are bound volumes of the Bosley family. William Powell papers consist of his appointment as captain in the Alabama Militia (1825); land grant in Caddo Parish (1843); statements and receipts for purchases of slaves (1843-1849); and information on plantation life. Correspondence, mostly written by daughters Puella Powell, Jane E. Scarborough of Pascagoula Bayou and Amelia Virginia Van Bibber of Shreveport, concerns family matters, travel on the Red River, and social life in Webster, Bossier, and Caddo Parishes (1845-1850). Antebellum and Civil War material contains scattered statements of account; and correspondence relating to family matters. Papers of the Reconstruction period include statements of account; bills; contracts with tenant farmers; and accounts with laborers. Much of the correspondence following the death of Eliza Powell, wife of William Powell, concerns her estate and succession. Other items include the sale and lease of Mount Flat and Slate Place plantations; and an inventory of her personal property. Later correspondence of sons, Marion and Milton Bosley describes university life at Louisiana State University, local news, and their association with other students (1884-1886). After 1900, papers are chiefly those of Marion Bosley and include statements of account of Bosley and Brother, merchants of Coushatta; bank statements; insurance policies; and contracts with tenant farmers. Among the bound volumes is a portage book for the steamboat "Cordelia Ann", giving name of the master, dates, trip numbers, crew members, and other related information (1867). Other volumes are bankbooks (1897-1898),cash books (1905-1909), check stub book (1898), daybooks (1882-1912), invoice book (1886-1887), index book (n.d.), sixteen ledger books (1856-1943), notebooks (1856-1916), register of bills (1908), and a time book (1894). Miscellaneous items include newspaper clippings (1862-1903) and family photographs.
